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2009/08/01

Social activist sees hand of politician, son behind attack

Mumbai: A social activist, who was attacked at her residence in Vasai on Friday night, has alleged that a politician and his son from Madhya Pradesh were behind it.Shamim Modi, who hails from the Harda district of Madhya Pradesh, shifted to Mumbai with her husband, Anurag, after she found a job as an assistant professor at the Tata Institue of Social Sciences in Deonar.Modi was allegedly attacked by a watchman and received 200 stitches and suffered multiple fractures. She is now recuperating at a nursing home in Vasai.Modi and Anurag had initiated a movement against corruption and exploitation of workers of saw mills in rural Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. “We have actively worked in Harda and have exposed the politician time and again. He had tried to attack us even when we were in MP. I am in great shock after this attack,” said Anurag.“We have recorded the victim’s statement. We are now on the lookout for the watchman who attacked her. Only after we arrest him we will be able to take the case forward,” said Additional Superintendent of Police, Vasai, S B Pathare. Pathare added that they are not ruling out the possibility of a political motive behind the attack.According to the statement given by Modi, a watchman named Rakesh Nepali entered her house on the pretext of checking the water supply. He then strangulated her and stabbed her with a knife. Modi said that she even offered her valuables to the accused who refused to take them and continued attacking her. The attacker stopped hitting her after Modi pretended to be dead.As soon as the attacker fled, Modi called out for help. Her neighbors then took her to a nearby hospital and registered a complaint with the Manikpur Police station in Vasai.

In this kind of an Inter state crime, it is the duty of The Govts of Maharashra as well as of the Union Govt to catch the culprits and bring the truth out. Since a very powerful man of the BJP Govt of M.P. (a minister in fact) is the main suspect in this crime, no initiative or cooperation from M.P. State govt can be expected. All people in knowledge of the Harda social movement know the active involvement of MP Govt in repressions going on there for the last several years. In the federal system of our country, the union govt has to take the responsibility of all interstate crimes.

Yet another attempt to suppress movement against corruption and exploitation by the perpetrators of the social crime. The report on the life endangering assault on Shamim Modi in Mumbai, far away from Harda in Madhya Pradesh, the place of the social movement, is ample indicator of the reach and vindictiveness of the corrupt.It is time that all sensible citizen of the country raise their voice against corruption, in as organized way as possible .